Tools

“Buck” the System

In prepping the slides for a talk, I re-discovered this little gem of a quote from country music innovator Buck Owens :

“I’m not going to beg and compromise what I believe in just because somebody in Nashville don’t approve… I am who I am, I am what I am, I do what I do and I ain’t never gonna do it any different. I don’t care who likes it and who don’t.”

We can look back with quaintness on what happened to music in the 1950’s and early 1960’s, but it was the courageous pioneering of innovators like Buck Owens that even reached across oceans and laid the foundation for bands like The Beatles and others to blow open the doors to new sounds and methods of exploring rhythm and melody.

Buck Owens “bucked” a system that was cranking out music like widgets on an assembly line. Were it not for him and others like him the world of music would be different today.

DO NOT be like Buck if you want to be safe. DO NOT be like Buck if you’re more concerned about your reputation than leaving a mark. DO NOT be like Buck if you want an easy life. DO NOT be like Buck if you are not willing to go all the way.

And… for the love of all that is good… please never join the cast of Hee-Haw . 

Tags: cover bands, Unique Voices, uniqueness


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